Evidence of Excellent Parenting

I got into the car to attend Grace's closing ceremonies at school, and I found this.

I'm not gonna lie. It's sobering to be THAT mom.

Girl knows her Papa

Last night, as I was putting the girls to bed, we were discussing the possibility of sending Grace to Brad's parents' for a couple weeks. They have started a real, live farm and will be working on it during the summer. Grace is thrilled at the prospect, and I explained to her that working a farm is hard and that a lot would be expected of her.

Grace explained to Claire, "Yeah, Mom would know because she used to live on a farm."

I snorted. (Because, yes, that's how I laugh. It's also why my Dad [still] calls me Pigee. And so I'm the closest thing my parents ever had to a farm animal.) "Um, no. I didn't. Don't you remember my stories about living in an apartment?"

"Oh yeah," she said. And then, after a pause, "But your dad is so farm-like."

I laughed out loud. It wasn't something I would have ever known as a girl her age. Yet, it's true.

Too bad I didn't inherit his green thumb. Yet. Maybe there's still time.

Living Things.

One week. An entire week of watering and sunning and then Brad finally called my Mother's Day plant for the wilting failure that it was and threw it away. Let it not be a microcosm to my parenting. But isn't that sort of what a Mother's Day plant is representative of? Nurture? My poor kids are doomed.

Speaking of living things, if you're bad at taking care of them, you probably shouldn't take your children to visit the full bred and adorable (and wickedly inexpensive) golden labs in town. Because now a puppy is coming today.

The token flower

I had to speak in Church today. I also sang. Considering that I just spoke last year on Easter (another high-pressure holiday, yes?) I think my bishopric is trying to kill me.

Anyway. I spent a lot of time fretting over the talk. And in my fretting, I came across an informative and amusing discussion about the traditional Mother's Day talk here.

I was touched by many of the comments and laughed hysterically at others (comment #21, for example. Oh so true.).

But my favorite quote on the post was at #53. Just sheer hilariousness: "I’m against handing out plants on Mother’s Day. That’s the last thing a mother needs, responsibility for yet another living thing."

Where do you stand on Mother's Day plants? For? Against? Indifferent?

Camouflage

Weston came to us with mad skills. If I ever find myself in a drawing pool for the Hunger Games, I know who to turn to for training.

In the tub

I had a lot to do one day last week. It was a hectic day. So I decided to let Claire paint.

Our only washable paint is blue. And The last time I let the munchkins use it, Brad came home and asked if we'd murdered an avatar. Paint was splattered everywhere. It's still in our drapes.

So this time I thought I would just have Claire paint in the bathtub.

It started so well.

It ended with me making friends with a nylon brush and every cleaner in our home. Which makes for the first serious scrubbing of that shower in over a month. So... Win win? Maybe?

Photos

Remember that photo a day resolution I made? I do. I had envisioned gorgeous artsy pictures and my photography skills madly improving. Turns out that it's just really easy to take photos on a camera. So that's what I end up doing.

But here are a few non-phone photos from the last few weeks/months. They aren't gorgeous, but they're fun.

1. This is Weston humoring me while I peruse Pottery Barn Kids. Wow I love that place. And he loved this scooter. And he tried to ride it. And then he broke it. Awesome.

2. This is rain. I grew up in a place where it was practically an everyday occurrence. In New Mexico land, rain is like fairy dust sprinkled from heaven. Once, during book club, when water started speckling my window, all 12 of us--I kid you not--dropped our books (and our plates of food) and ran outside to dance in the rain.

3.This is Claire at a friend's birthday party blowing bubbles.

So, with fresh eyes, Claire's hair in this picture looks orange. Don't know why. It's not like that in real life. I mean, it has a tiny orange tint, but Its blonde. It must have been the sunset light on it or something. Anyway.

The end.